Arrest made in UNH student's death: Despite no body found yet, police say they know 'Lizzi' Marriott is dead

Sunday

Oct 14, 2012 at 3:15 AMOct 14, 2012 at 10:55 AM

By OLIVER JENKINSojenkins@fosters.com

DOVER — A local man has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the disappearance of Elizabeth “Lizzi” Marriott, a University of New Hampshire student who was last seen Tuesday evening.

Seth Mazzaglia, 29, of Dover, is scheduled to be arraigned Monday morning at Dover District Court on the second-degree murder charge.

During a Saturday afternoon press conference in front of the Dover police station, Assistant Attorney General James Vara announced investigators have acquired sufficient evidence to believe Marriott is dead — even though attempts to locate her body have been unsuccessful.

“We are confirming that we have credible information at this point to believe, in fact, that she's dead,” he said.

Vara also said police would continue to search for Marriott's body in the area where the search had been focused in Portsmouth, but wouldn't elaborate when pressed for further details.

“We are continuing to search for her body in the area by Pierce Island,” he reiterated. “We have information we are investigating at this point.”

Police investigated this piece of information beginning at approximately 7:30 p.m. Friday night. Portsmouth and state police had Prescott Park cordoned off with yellow police tape and the bridge leading to Peirce Island was also blocked off by police cruisers.

Although news agencies were amassing at the scene and reporting police expected to recover a body in the area, those attempts Friday night were unsuccessful. Saturday's attempts to locate Marriott's body in this same area were also fruitless.

Vara did announce that Marriott's vehicle, a 2001 tan colored Mazda Tribute, has been located at a UNH parking lot. Vara, who said investigators are still combing Marriott's vehicle for additional clues, stressed other students at UNH are not at risk.

“I want to confirm there are no other threats to the other students at UNH,” he said. “This is unrelated other than the fact she's a student at the university.”

Citing an ongoing investigation, Vara offered minimal details in terms of Mazzaglia's role in Marriott's disappearance. Although he stated the two knew each other, he could not provide information such as Mazzaglia's address or where he works. Mazzaglia is a UNH alumnus.

Vara also declined to address whether police presence at an apartment on Mill Street in Dover late Friday night was also linked to Marriott's disappearance. On Friday, Marriott's uncle, Anthony Hanna, told Foster's his niece was heading to an apartment on Mill Street Tuesday night but never arrived.

“This is still an active and ongoing investigation,” Vara said, surrounded by representatives from the state police, attorney general's office and the Federal Bureau of Investigation. “We will continue with any and all resources available to us.”

On Friday, state police and FBI agents joined the search for Marriott, who was last seen Tuesday during a class at the Durham campus of UNH. The 19-year-old, who is a commuter student living with her aunt and uncle in Chester, N.H., was believed to be headed to Dover to see friends before she went missing.

Lizzi Marriott's grandmother, Susan Marriott, was tending the phone at the Chester home where her granddaughter lives on Friday while other family members were out handing out fliers and searching for her.

“She is a good student and she's hard-working,” her grandmother said. “She is a good person that doesn't have a multitude of friends but she has good friends, a small group of good friends.”

She said the FBI and other investigators were at the house for much of the day interviewing family members.

According to Hanna, Marriott told her friend she was leaving UNH at 9 p.m. and heading to the home of a female friend in Dover. Marriott reportedly never arrived at the home.

Hanna said police have discovered Marriott's phone sent two more transmissions on Tuesday evening — one at about 9:30 p.m. and another at about 10:10 p.m. The last transmission was sent from a cell phone tower in Dover, according to Hanna.

Marriott failed to show up for her work shift at the Greenland Target store on Wednesday and has not attended UNH classes since Tuesday. Hanna said there has been no activity in Marriott's bank accounts since Tuesday.

Marriott, a 2011 graduate of Westborough High School in Massachusetts, was studying marine biology at UNH, according to her uncle. She attended Manchester Community College her freshman year before transferring to UNH this year. She was living with her aunt and uncle this year and commuting to save money.

Marriott had volunteered as a guide at the New England Aquarium in Boston for the last four years, according to aquarium spokesman Tony LaCasse. She started working there in January 2009 as part of the aquarium's “World of Water” training program for teenagers.

As a high school student, Marriott spent Saturdays volunteering at the aquarium, and continued to work there through August of this year, donating an estimated 400 hours of volunteer work at the organization, LaCasse said.

Hanna described his niece as an “all-around nice kid,” who was quiet and loved to read.

“She's a very nice person,” he said. She's a very pretty girl, which is — she's also, I would say, a little bit young and naive. When you're at that age, life is great and everyone's your friend. She's a very trusting person. But (she has) a good outlook on life.”

The web domains FindLizzi.com, FindLizzie.com, and FindLizzy.com have all been bought by Marriott's family. A Help Find Lizzi Marriott Facebook page has also been established.

State police, FBI agents, and police from UNH, Dover, and Chester have been participating in the search, as well as authorities from Marriott's hometown of Westborough, Massachusetts.

Democrat staff writers Jim Haddadin and Samantha Allen and the Associated Press contributed to this report.